Content Creation and Blogs

Week #4February 19, 2014

Utica CollegePRL 408: Social MediaThomas Armitage

In today’s lesson…

What is content? Types of content How to go viral Some pointers Examples of great content Blogging Four uses of blogs Popular software Benefits Tips Best practices

Past week’s articles

“The PR Pro's Guide to Blogging” - http://on.mash.to/MnmDff

“21 Benefits of Business Blogging and 22 Tips” - http://bit.ly/1kJP9Gg

From Anna: “15 Excellent Corporate Blogs to Learn From” - http://on.mash.to/1bjIDTH

What is content?

Content marketing is the creation and distribution of relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined audience

(What is content marketing?, 2011)

What’s the difference?

Types of content

Articles White papers Photos Memes Charts with statistics Infographics Videos Webisodes Podcasts Audio files

How to go viral

Keep it short Demonstrate your brand’s personality Is that real? Be funny or entertaining Ride off trends. But be quick! Leverage user-generated content

(Sibley, 2012)

Some pointers

Be ruthlessly selfless Be evergreen Create catchy headlines Make it worth reading Target your audience Use real people Be creative Be quick Ask WWYC?

(Wong, 2014)

Blendtec

One of the most well-known viral video case studies

700% growth since videos began

Old Spice

XXX

Dove

Considered last year’s most successful viral campaign by some

Very much in-line with their new messaging related to true beauty

Chipotle

Breakout

Groups of 3 15 minutes 5 ideas for creative content

PR/marketing team for the following companies: Easy Mac, 1-800 Flowers, Kansas City

Royals, Norton Anti-Virus, Van’s Warped Tour, Despicable Me 3

Blogging

What are blogs? Is blog a dirty word? Mainstream media vs blogs Individual vs corporate blogs Get ideas out and get seen Indexed by search engines help to be

found Be found by journalists and get quoted Find your niche. 112 million vs 12

(Scott, 2013)

Four uses of blogs

Monitoring what millions are saying about your brand Participate in those conversations through commenting Work with bloggers to write stories through pitching and PR Shape those conversations by writing and creating your

own blogs

(Scott, 2013)

Popular software

Wordpress: TechCrunch, Mashable

Blogger: Google Moveable Type:

Huffington Post, ReadWrite

Typepad Crowdfusion: TMZ Tumblr

(Russell, 2013)

Benefits

Connect with customers and partners

Generate traffic Establish authority Inspire your social media Generate publicity with

increased reach Grow your email database Give your company a

voice Humanize your company Exchange ideas

(Feldman, 2013)

Tips

Answer questions Teach, don’t preach Converse Make it easy on the eyes Be transparent Don’t back down Be consistent Optimize Write passionately and

with personality Include real life examples Encourage sharing and

promote your blog

(Feldman, 2013)

Best practices

Relevance Length Readability Keywords Multimedia Linking Shareable Unbias Develop voice Editorial calendar List of influential

bloggers to pitch

(Zemack, 2011)

Breakout

Groups of 3 15 minutes 5 blog ideas

PR/marketing team for the following companies: Absolut , Adidas, Coleman, Lifetime

Network, Hess, Yankee Candle

Next week, we will discuss…

Contests and Promotions

To do: Read articles from #UticaCollegeSM and

comment Continue working on PPT presentations Pinterest presenter should be ready to

present, make sure everyone explores Pinterest and is ready to answer questions and discuss

References

Feldman, B. (2013, October 6). 21 benefits of business blogging and 22 tips. SocialMediaToday. Retrieved on February 15, 2014 from http://socialmediatoday.com/feldmancreative/1776836/21-benefits-blogging-and-22-blogging-tips

Russell, J. (2013, August 16). The 15 best blogging and publishing platforms on the Internet today. Which one is for you? The Next Web. Retrieved on February 15, 2014 from http://thenextweb.com/apps/2013/08/16/best-blogging-services/#!vUI4L

Scott, D. M. (2013). The New Rules of Marketing and PR. New Jersey: Wiley. Sibley, A. (2012, July 5). Common qualities of insanely successful viral videos.

Hubspot Blog. Retrieved on February 15, 2014 from http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33357/Common-Qualities-of-Insanely-Successful-Viral-Videos.aspx

What is content marketing? (2011). Content Marketing Institute. Retrieved on February 16, 2014 from http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/what-is-content-marketing/

Wong, D. (2014, January 29). 11 critical content creation tips. Huffington Post. Retrieved on February 15, 2014 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/danny-wong/11-critical-content-creat_b_4681265.html

Zemack, D. (2011, April 28). The PR pro's guide to blogging. Mashable.com. Retrieved on February 15, 2014 from http://on.mash.to/MnmDff